Literature and exhibited

Lot Essay

'The interesting thing about a polished surface to me is that when it is really perfect enough something happens - it literally ceases to be physical; it levitates; it does something else what happens with concave surfaces is, in my view, completely beguiling. They cease to be physical and it is that ceasing to be physical that I'm after' (A. Kapoor, quoted in Anish Kapoor, exh. cat., Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston 2008, p. 53).

'It seemed it was not a mirrored object but an object full of mirroredness... If the traditional sublime is in deep space, then this is proposing that the contemporary sublime is in front of the picture plane, not beyond it this is a whole new spatial adventure. To make new art you have to make a new space' (A. Kapoor, quoted in Anish Kapoor, exh. cat., Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston 2008, p. 53).

Shining in brilliant copper, its luminous red reverse reflecting against the wall behind, Anish Kapoor's Untitled imparts a kind of sacred aura through its glowing red halo. Inviting the viewer to peer into its reflective concave interior, Untitled offers a panoramic reflection of its surroundings. Created in 2010, Untitled is one of two similar mirrors, the other presently included in the Bronze exhibition celebrating metallic sculpture at the Royal Academy, London. Forming part of Kapoor's instantly recognisable series of mirrored sculptures, Untitled recalls the artist's most renowned works such as Turning the World Inside Out (1995) exhibited in Kensington Gardens, London in 2010-2011, and Cloud Gate (2004) on permanent display in Chicago's Millennium Park. Shaped by the artist's ongoing investigation into the power of mirrors and colour to alter the way we perceive and understand objects, Untitled is an enquiry into the real world through a large copper lens that transforms the world around us into a mysterious, gilded realm.
Referring to his mirrored sculptures as non-objects, the curved reflective surface of Untitled seems to consist entirely of the reflective light around it, liquefying the material world of the viewer. Surrounded in a halo of glowing scarlet, the bright, burnished surface of Untitled drenches the world in liquid metal; the hyper-reflective surface reflecting an illusory reality where the accuracies of real life are overturned in its glossy reflection. Moving around the work, it opens itself up to reveal a new world within; transforming the space of the room and any objects, figures or events that appear, into a strange, chromatic alternative universe. This illusory world filling the copper basin is the focus of a deeply philosophical exploration of the artist. As Kapoor observes, 'It seemed it was not a mirrored object but an object full of mirroredness... If the traditional sublime is in deep space, then this is proposing that the contemporary sublime is in front of the picture plane, not beyond it this is a whole new spatial adventure. To make new art you have to make a new space' (A. Kapoor, quoted in Anish Kapoor, exh. cat., Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston 2008, p. 53).
Existing on the borderline between two realities, the transformative power of the sculpture appears to transcend the physical realm, its radiant halo imparting an aura of magic or mysticism. Speaking of his concave mirror works, the artist has stated, 'the interesting thing about a polished surface to me is that when it is really perfect enough something happens - it literally ceases to be physical; it levitates; it does something else what happens with concave surfaces is, in my view, completely beguiling. They cease to be physical and it is that ceasing to be physical that I'm after' (A. Kapoor, quoted in Anish Kapoor, exh. cat., Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, 2008, p. 53). Extending from the artist's philosophical enquiry into the transcendence of sculpture, the pregnant reflection of Untitled generates a pervasive and enigmatic sense of the sublime.

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